By Tim King
Senator Paul Gazelka has a reputation as being the silent thoughtful guy in the room. It’s a judgement not based in fact. I’d argue that Senator Gazelka is as subject to the same partisan lip flapping and political inconsistency as Donald Trump, the leader of the Senators political party.
Take for example a visit Senator Gazelka made to the Todd County Board of Commissioners earlier this year. Accompanied by his largely silent side kick Representative John Poston, Senator Gazelka told the Board of Commissioners that he was going to go to St. Paul to cut taxes. Cutting taxes, the Senator said, would make Todd County more competitive.
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| Sen. Gazelka visited with Todd County Commissioners (left to right)Neuman, Erickson, and Kircher at the Capitol recently. Will they cut taxes to make us more competitive? Photo thanks to Sen. Gazelle's Facebook. |
That’s the Republican Party line and it’s what I would expect the leader of the Republican controlled Senate to say. Putting aside the fact that cutting taxes will result in less support for our children’s education, reduced road and bridge quality, less money for law enforcement, and a reduction in support for services that truly make us competitive, I would expect Paul Gazelka to say he’s going to cut taxes.
But once the legislative session got under way Senator Gazelka was willing to spend large quantities of taxpayer money on some pretty wild schemes.
Take for example, the Senators response to the murders of the students in Florida by another student. Following those killings Senator Gazelka came up with a crazy solution.
“Somebody suggested that we put the National Guard in the schools,” Gazelka to Minnesota Public Radio. “They are already serving. I think we should look into that.”
Imagine that! There would be two or three heavily armed soldiers in body armor patrolling every elementary, middle, and high school building in Minnesota. That idea horrifies me. Perhaps you think it’s ok. Then think about this.
How many school buildings are there in Minnesota? There are about 525 school districts in Minnesota. Big districts like St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Duluth have many building with students in them whereas Long Prairie only has two. So, for conversations sake, lets say there are 2,500 school buildings in Minnesota. Now lets say we put two soldiers in each building. That means we call up 5,000 Guard members for nine months of school duty. We’ll need to train them, so lets say ten months of duty.
So what’s it going to cost to activate 5,000 members of the National Guard?
Senator Gazelka really wasn’t serious when he suggested this, you say. The Majority Leader was just flapping lip with his media friends. Oh. Ok. Fine.
But here’s some more lip flapping from Majority Leader Gazelka. You’ll find it on his Facebook site so I suppose that’s virtual lip flapping.
“90% of taxpayers have more money in their paychecks due to federal tax reform, but are the rumors true that your state taxes are going up?? Not if I have anything to do with it! Watch my update below for more info,” the Senator flaps righteously at his Facebook.
Well, I understand Senator Gazelka’s need to promote the Biggest Tax Break in The History of Our Nation. But the Senator’s numbers don’t work. I get a Social Security check every month. Well, it’s an automatic deposit but you know what I mean. It didn’t go up a penny. The fact is, there are about 800,000 Minnesotans in Minnesota who receive their hard earned retirement check from Social Security and most of us are not getting a penny more then we did last year. And all of us pay some taxes. I’m not complaining. I’m just saying it’s so.
There are an about 5.1 million Minnesotans. Social Security recipients make up about 17% of the population. The people who get large Social Security payments did get a small bump but most of us didn’t. Senator Gazelka’s numbers are all wet even when you only take Social Security recipients into account.
But unemployed Minnesotans make up about three percent of the population. A lot of those people pay both income and Social Security taxes. But they aren’t benefitting from the Biggest Tax Break in The History of Our Nation.
There other groups such as self employed farmers who are suffering from low commodity prices who aren’t getting a pay check bump either.
My point is that Senator Gazelka’s numbers don’t hold water. I called him and asked where he got them. He didn’t call back. So I believe that he just didn’t think when he said 90% of taxpayers have more money in their paychecks. He just lip flapped.
We need somebody more thoughtful then Senator Gazelka to lead the Minnesota Senate.
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